06 john w ford selected works 2009 2015 by John W. Ford

JOHN W. FORD

SELECTED WORKS / 2009 - 2015

Contents

SHADOWS IN DUST: BASE LEVEL

SECOND SIGHT: SHADOWS IN DUST

A SYSTEM FOR EYES, HALF CLOSE +286( 127 $ +20(

SHADOWS IN DUST: BASE LEVEL Like many artists, I've most often worked on the principle that the success of any outcome owes to the amount of labour invested. Working as a professional for almost three decades, there are occasions when this correlation doesn't always hold true. At times, less self-conscious actions and circumstance take dominance in the process, and perhaps this has something to do with surrendering to an event larger than ourselves, being open to the unexpected, trying something new, embracing accidents. The digital prints in this exhibit are examples of what may occur when an intended path is unavailable and another presents itself. In summer 2013 I was working toward a site-specific exhibition project in Poland, Second Sight: Shadows in Dust. The venue for the installation was also the space in which I would work, the former studio of a painter, contained within a large apartment block in the centre of Krak贸w. Though the space was emptied of all personal effects, it was otherwise untouched for decades. So untouched were the rooms, there were subtle shadows of dust remaining on the walls where paintings and drawings had been hung for many years. Though the floors had been swept, there was a delicate layer of dust and other residue, especially around the edges, along the baseboard moulding. My project in Krak贸w was delayed by limited access to the old studio, though I was allowed some time during each day to explore the spaces and formulate a work plan, and take some photographs of the space. I have done a lot of photography in my life, but primarily for documentary purposes, less so with creative intent. I began to photograph the old spaces, on occasion composing images, on other occasions, allowing the position and/or settings of the camera to influence how images were captured. I set the camera to a very shallow depth of field, with extended exposure. For some shots, I lay on the floor with my camera, shooting what appeared of little consequence, allowing the auto-focus to choose a point automatically. I shot images in a somewhat random fashion, not over-thinking what I was doing. Later I looked at the images on my laptop and was struck by the indescribable quality of the shots, amazed that photographs of "nothing" had the power to engage some level of my interest in a unique manner. For me the result seemed almost too easy, and so I questioned its validity though perhaps not its authenticity. Recalling my career, this sort of outcome has occurred several times, and each time it does, I stand back a bit bemused and ask myself "did I do that?", knowing full well that the answer is no, I didn't do that, but was part of the process that led to this outcome. I have hundreds of these images, and have selected only four to exhibit, in the event there is anyone who might think they are interesting as well. I don't assert anything particularly profound about the images, but do find something intriguing about them . . . though I am at a loss to say why.

The work in the exhibit has been made possible in part by the Ontario Arts Council, and the project in Poland was made possible by an Arts Research Board from McMaster University, and under the honorary patronage of the Dean, Intermedia Faculty/Cracowian Academy, professor Artur Tajber.

SHADOWS IN DUST: BASE LEVEL (Artifact 1); Archival Digital Print; 36 x 60”

SHADOWS IN DUST: BASE LEVEL (Artifact 3); Archival Digital Print; 36 x 60”

SHADOWS IN DUST: BASE LEVEL (Artifact 4); Archival Digital Print; 36 x 60”

SECOND SIGHT: SHADOWS IN DUST This project took place in a single room situated within a historic building in Kraków, Poland. It is one of many buildings in Kraków which has disputed ownership, many of these a result of WW2 and the fact that many people (particularly the Jewish population of Kraków) were forcibly removed, many exterminated. After the war, the Soviet influence led to Communist governments in much of Central Europe, and in Kraków the city government took control of these properties. So, the city rents out the space until ownership can be established legally, and in this building are housed a couple of businesses, some residential spaces, and increasingly the Department of Intermedia, a new wing of the Art Academy of Kraków. Intermedia had recently taken occupancy of the unique space in which I worked, a combination apartment/studio that had been occupied by an elderly couple, the husband being a painter. The artist was recently deceased, and regrettably, his widow had to be relocated (an ironic twist given the history of Kraków, and I came into this space that had been lived in (and perhaps barely cleaned or disturbed) for many decades. In a way, I was faced with the question, 'how do I occupy and create an interface wit this place and its history, filled with so many experiences and memories of this old couple?'. What you see in the space is an intuitive, 'stream of consciousness', visual and physical interaction within the space that was the painter's studio - it was an artist working in the space of an artist, a rather strange collaboration of sorts.

Views of the exhibit SECOND SIGHT: SHADOWS IN DUST, 2013 in Krak贸w, Poland

A SYSTEM FOR EYES, HALF CLOSED With opportunities to work in unfamiliar settings, I have often taken clues from the surrounding location, abandoned architectural spaces , and discarded materials found within that context. In the past, I collected, examined, and rearranged objects I found on site, building a type of reliquary to house these bits and pieces, this evidence of the place, its past and present inhabitants, and the effects of natural forces upon the whole. Seeking to evolve the manner by which I interface and react to new and unfamiliar contexts, I decided to take a different material or media approach to my work in Nitra, Slovakia. I collected, but less the actual material of the location, rather the visual impressions and details of the city, such that they could become the evidence of my experience, the material that would eventually become my exhibit in six rooms of the Bunker Gallery. What I could not have predicted was the degree to which the space of the gallery itself would effect the nature of the final project. Hoping the viewers might see their city in a new way, I found myself seeing the gallery in new ways as well, as much a conceptual and visual resource as the collected photographic images of Nitra. Therefore, the final installation in Bunker Gallery becomes an homage to Nitra, but also to the residual history of the Bunker itself (a former Cold War bomb shelter), and also the experimental artists who had worked in the spaces prior to my arrival. An artist-made mouse hole became the most curious and ironic aspect of past activity in the gallery, and an image of the hole is repeated in photographic form throughout the gallery. By a thorough cleaning of the gallery, a residue of past construction in the floor became apparent in the gallery for the first time in years. All the subtle (and not so subtle) photographic details are meant to exercise the eye of the viewer , such that the audience must look very carefully to see what the artist has installed in the walls. Then the viewer begins to be confused by existing or natural blemishes in the floors and walls, second-guessing whether or not what is seen is unintentional or is it the result of the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hand. Upon leaving the gallery, the viewer begins to look more closely at the world around them, and a different level of awareness begins to take hold. This is the nature of the project, and the nature of art, to heighten awareness, to see with eyes half closed, the inadvertent glance somehow serving to see as well as the focused gaze. (It was a challenge to document this exhibit adequately. In several instances of the documentation, I insert red dots to indicate the subtle insertions of photographic images, in case it has not been apparent what aspect is artist affected.)

A SYSTEM FOR EYES, HALF CLOSED, 2013; Mixed-media, site-specific installation using photographic images, glue, plaster, and wall paint

Works from the series: HOUSE NOT A HOME More than a decade past, I had been involved in many years of making sculpture and engaging a series of site-specific projects. Concurrent to my graphic work, I recently began a parallel series of dimensional objects that are a direct extension of the ideas inherent in the prints. These works satisfy a need for in-the-round experience and viewing, and they also allow for a clarity of perception that I hope will eventually creep back into my graphic works. It is not a dramatic step to imagine my prints in three dimensions, and my intention with these newer spatial works is to create symbiotic relationships between illusionary and volumetric space. I begin the process by laminating printed surfaces to a wooden panel, which is then supported by a wooden frame or plinth. The printed surface is viewed in a horizontal plane, an unexpected orientation for viewing a graphic work; yet, it becomes the perfect surface/field onto which I can construct an actual structural space. I play with relatively minute scale in monumental yet ambiguous proportion. Using small wooden sticks cut on a band saw, glued and tied together with string and thread, I create superstructures reminiscent of an incomplete doll's house or an esoteric architectural model. It is within this skeletal space that I add and subtract elements, completely by instinct and without a plan. Shortly after initiating this sculpting process, I build a very delicate vitrine that serves to enclose the structure. This step is critical, as the vitrine often affects the character of the "object" I am making within, and vice-versa. It also creates the impression that the process itself is being archived and presented in a museological manner. With this new body of work, I feel I am setting the stage for an important ongoing transition to a more mature level of artistic expression. These three works are a component of a total seven I plan to create to complete the series.

HOUSE NOT A HOME: ANGLE OF REPOSE

HOUSE NOT A HOME: ANGLE OF REPOSE, 2011 (middle sculpture); Mixed-media including printed elements and found objects; 46 x 57 x 29â&#x20AC;? .

HOUSE NOT A HOME: ANGLE OF REPOSE, 2011; Mixed-media including printed elements and found objects; 46 x 57 x 29â&#x20AC;? (detail view)

HOUSE NOT A HOME: PROSTHETIC REFLEXION

HOUSE NOT A HOME: PROSTHETIC REFLEXION, 2010 (far right sculpture); Mixed-media including printed elements and found objects; 36 x 37 x 28â&#x20AC;?

HOUSE NOT A HOME: PROSTHETIC REFLEXION, 2010; Mixed-media including printed elements and found objects; 36 x 37 x 28â&#x20AC;? (detail view)

HOUSE NOT A HOME: CHURCH WARDEN

HOUSE NOT A HOME: CHURCH WARDEN, 2009; Mixed-media including printed elements and found objects; 36 x 41 x 28â&#x20AC;?

HOUSE NOT A HOME: CHURCH WARDEN, 2009; Mixed-media including printed elements and found objects; 36 x 41 x 28â&#x20AC;? (detail view)